Heads up! If you haven’t already noticed, the buddy codes that came with the collector’s edition are since a couple of days ago ready to be used. It is “recommended” though that you lend your game discs to your friend at the same time, so he or she can install the game without having to download the trial client. Which, by the way, costs $2.99.
It appears that Funcom investors show lack of faith when it comes to the stickyness of Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. The stock, traded on the Oslo Stock Exchange (Funcom is a Norwegian company), reached an equivalent of $54 on launch day (May 20 this year, people), is now at $24, Massively reports. I think this is the key though:
On the flip side, it should be noted that the price of Funcom stock had been fairly steady, around $25, for several months prior to March of this year. A sharp increase in price coincided with the release of X-Play pre-order statistics for AoC about two months before boxes hit the shelves. That was followed by a distinct downturn just a few weeks after the game’s drop date and the slide has continued since, returning it back to familiar price territory just this past week.
In other words, no need to fret, especially if the game keeps its players around, as I’m sure it will. After all, I’m still here aren’t I?
Every character in Age of Conan, and every questline, has been developed with great care. There’s also lot of inside jokes and references to different phenomenons in the mmorpg-world in large. One of the probably more hilarious ones is where you stumble upon a noveau rich man in the noble district in Old Tarantia, Aquilonias main capital and seat of Conan himself.
When you first meet him he’ll claim he needs help because one of his farmers has disappeared and his wealth and trade is dwindling because of this. It takes a long journey deep into the Fields of the Dead in Cimmeria before you find his lost farmer. But you’re surprised to find out that the farmer is not some common confused hillbilly but a bitter adventurer who was promised gold and glory if he killed animals, beasts and evil men and looted them of items and resources and sent all bargains to his boss in Old Tarantia. He’s of course burnt out on this kind of playing and leaves you with the wise advice to never get stuck in such a deal yourself.
The greedy man in Old Tarantia is of course not happy because of this, and desperately keeps trying to sell his gold to uninterested people who pass him by, “Todays special offer, buy 30 gold for only 40 gold!”.
So without further hesitation, here’s the pictures of the desperate gold seller:
Age of Conan can certainly be a stunningly beautiful game, but sometimes the camera and the scripting engine are out of sync. Like this poor soul, found in the Acheron Ruins with a nasty headache…
Yes, there’s a person there, and that’s grass. Couldn’t you tell?
My character just killed Strom and traveled to Cimmeria. The wintery slopes are filled with wolves, yetis, and more. I’m taking my first steps with a smile on my face, happy to be away with the murky Tortage. Which I will return to in time, I’ve got quests to finish.
It feels like the game starts now, at level 20. Maybe it does, so I better get back at it.
Welcome to Living Hyboria, a blog about the excellent online PC game Age of Conan! We’ll write all sorts of things around and about this game, so I’ll just let the blog speak for itself. Expect updates here every now and then, a few times each week or something like that, from me as well as my fellow partners in crime in this little venture. We’ll present ourselves more formally soon enough.
Oh, and we’ll have our own design and everything soon enough. Just want to get the ball rolling, you know. Always better than sitting around doing nothing.
Again, welcome to Living Hyboria!